Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-02
DAILY HERALD.
RUDOLPH HERRING.
Interesting Conversation
with a Great Engineer.
EUROPEAN SEWERAGE SYSTEM
His Report OH a System for Los
Angeles Nearly Ready
for Filing.

Few people have known that there
has been for some time in this city
one of the most distinguished men of
the present time, man distinguished
for his knowledge of sanitary engineer
ing, and yet he has been here and has
nearly completed the study of this
city for the purpose of suggesting a
perfect means whereby the city can be
properly severed. Some time since
the City Council decided that it was
for the best interest of the city to EN-
ploy the foremost sanitary engineer of
the present time, Rudolph Herring,
who has made himself famous by his
careful study and elaborate report
Mr.. Herring started out as an en-
gineer Of the parks of New York and
Brooklyn just after the war, and was
for time engineer of the Paramount
Park of Philadelphia. In 1873, there
was panic, and Mr.. Herring con-
cluded that park engineering was
no longer likely to prove profitable.
Being in Philadelphia where the
sewerage system was remarkably bad
he came to the conclusion that there
was before him a chance to study
sanitary engineering since where there
are SO many defects a person can learn
better how to correct them. In his
own words, "a bridge may be weak
and persons may cross and recross
without discovering where the weak
points are but when that bridge has
fallen they can determine as to where
they were and what caused the fall.
They can then study the weak points
and learn how to correct them in the
new bridge which may be built"
Learning that Mr. Herring was at
the Nadeau representative of the
HERALD in company with City Sur
veyor Eaton who kindly volunteered
to accompany him thither, called upon
him last evening and after the above
preliminaries Mr.. Herring in very
modest manner said in relation to his
later work: "The United States
Government wanted report made
upon the sewerage system OF Europe
and l was selected to perform that
duty probably because 1 could speak
both French and English" He forgot
to state that he had been selected
BY THE SANITARY COMMISSION
OF the Government on account of his
known ability and the thoroughness OF
his work. At this time there was
considerable discussion going on as to
the right way to sewer cities and the
Government was trying to get solid
facts as basis for recommendation
to engineers. The Sanitary Commits
sion or National Board of Health
therefore selected Mr.. Herring for the
undertaking and he spent one year in
Europe. During that time he made a
careful study of the sewer systems of
nearly every city of Europe. There
was not a city of any size in Europe
in which Mr.. Herring did not make a
personal inspection OF the sewers, in
many of which he entered and in
many of which he actually walked
for long distances in gum boots and
rubber coat. In taking these trips
Mr.. Herring was very careful to have
the manholes uncovered so that the
air would berelieved of its overpower-
ing odors. He found in Europe great
deal of discussion as to whether city
ought to have sewer system or not
but in his opinion it would not be
more than ten years until they would
all come to the conclusion that per-
feet sewer system is necessary. Upon
his return to the United States Mr..
Herring wrote very elaborate report
upon the results of his investigation,
and this report is now included in the
library of every engineer of the United
States, and has been published by the
United States government. When he
returned to the United States work
poured in to him from all sides, and
since that time he has reported u on
the sewerage systems OF Philadelphia,
Providence, Boston and two or three
dozen other cities of this country.
''Los Angeles" he said, sis the far
thest west l have been, and Duluth
the farthest north"
At the present time Mr.. Herring is
Chief Engineer OF the
DRAINAGE COMMISSION OF CHICAGO,
Which city, he thinks, will have to
expend $35 ,O0O, 900 in obtaining per-
pect system. At the present time
the Chicago river sewage is pumped
into canal which flows into the Des-
PLANES river, thence into the Illinois
river. which empties into the Missis-
sippi and finally finds its way into the
Guif of Mexico. This canal is not large
enough to keep the river clear and it
will be necessary to cut a new canal
200 feet wide and twenty feet deep
before the drainage is perfect. In re-
gard to population Mr.. Herring was of
the opinion that at the present time
Chicago has about 1000, 900 people.
Philadelphia has over 100000, but
in four years time Chicago will be
the second city in the Union. The
growth of Chicago is much more rapid
than Philadelphia and while the next
census taken three years hence will
place it third in the list, the following
census will give it second if not the
first place on the list. Prior to that
time. however, additional facilities
for obtaining water will have to be
provided for. At the present time
Chicago uses as much water daily as
New York or Philadelphia and
the pumps are working at their
highest capacity. Chicago, New York
and Philadelphia each use about no.
100000 gallons of water each day.
In regard to the sewerage of Los Ange-
les Mr.. Herring stated that there would
not be any difficulty in getting good
system. In the first place the outlet
question was comparatively simple.
While in Eastern cities the sewage is
not desirable on farms it is the reverse
here and parties are only too anxious
to get it. Then the natural slope is
sufficient to carry everything of
Immediately before it has time to de-
cav. This is an advantage the city